Do global change experiments overestimate impacts on terrestrial ecosystems?

Sebastian Leuzinger*, Yiqi Luo, Claus Beier, Wouter Dieleman, Sara Vicca, Christian Körner

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftReviewForskningpeer review

287 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

In recent decades, many climate manipulation experiments have investigated biosphere responses to global change. These experiments typically examined effects of elevated atmospheric CO2, warming or drought (driver variables) on ecosystem processes such as the carbon and water cycle (response variables). Because experiments are inevitably constrained in the number of driver variables tested simultaneously, as well as in time and space, a key question is how results are scaled up to predict net ecosystem responses. In this review, we argue that there might be a general trend for the magnitude of the responses to decline with higher-order interactions, longer time periods and larger spatial scales. This means that on average, both positive and negative global change impacts on the biosphere might be dampened more than previously assumed.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftTrends in Ecology and Evolution
Vol/bind26
Udgave nummer5
Sider (fra-til)236-241
ISSN0169-5347
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2011
Udgivet eksterntJa

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Louise Andresen for advice. S.L. would like to acknowledge Jean and Lindsay McClintock from Pt. Wells for providing a working environment that allowed this idea to develop. S. V. holds a grant from the Institute for Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen).. Financial support for the first author came from the FP7 project ACQWA, and for C.B.’s contributions from the CLIMAITE project and the European Science Foundation through the CLIMMANI Research Networking Programme.

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